Have you ever wondered about how to make real world connections in the classroom? It’s one of my favourite strategies to get instant engagement with my learners.
I’m sharing the engagement strategies every teacher needs to never hear
” When am I ever going to need this?”
Keeping students motivated and focused is a challenge for sure! But, there is a way to do this without spending a whole load of time.
I’ve tested these real-world connection strategies so I know they work. You will walk away knowing
Why it’s important to incorporate them, the research backing this approach, and examples of easy ways to align them to content.
The best part…
They will keep your students engaged and wanting to give their best effort throughout the year.
3 Reasons Why Real World Connections in the Classroom Matter
Are your learners getting bored and have your usual activities become stale? Then this is the perfect time to try some new strategies. Here are three reasons why changing things up is a great way to end the year.
1) Meaningful Learning
Learning should be meaningful to students. However often the format in which you teach doesn’t make it obvious. Worksheets and using examples from textbooks make content uninspiring. Moreover, there’s a disconnect between learning in the classroom and how it applies to students in everyday life. This includes the world of work and their role in the community.
So why not change things up and incorporate REAL problems where students can use their maths, science, or other curricular skills to make learning meaningful to THEM.
Here’s how to get started today.
Open up a discussion about where a particular content can be seen or used outside the classroom.
Help your students consider questions like:
- Where have I seen this in my life?
- I wonder how I might use this?
- How does this work or how is this created?
Making more real world connections with content will make learning more meaningful for your students.
TBH trying out something new at the end of the year is a PERFECT time. You know your students and have a rapport with them. Most likely you have an idea about their interests too. Asking them what they would like to learn about will help you narrow down the context you set any learning. You will also be able to get some valuable feedback on what works and what you might want to tweak for the start of the next year.
2) Improved focus
I’m sure you will agree, that students are great at staying focused when they are creating the latest Tik Tok. But it sort of falls flat when you resort to using ‘word problems’ as real world connection examples. How long it took for Bob and Jane to catch the bus to school is uninspiring, to say the least!
If you’re wondering how to get THAT super focus on learning content then, incorporating real world examples in your classroom is a must!
I’ll share how you can incorporate social media trends to get this focus later in this post.
3) Independent Exploration
Making real world connection in the classroom can be a great precursor to using Project Based Learning. PBL is a student-led learning approach based on solving real world problems. Incorporating real world connections examples will automatically encourage your students to look for answers to the problems you set them. No more purchasing 27 melons! ( when has that ever made sense?)
You can find practical ways to incorporate PBL by grabbing my free guide and planner for upper elementary teachers HERE.
Let’s dig into why and how you can easily make real world connections with any subject in your upper elementary classroom.
What are Real World Connections
Real world connections are making associations between student experiences and the content and skills you teach them.
There are a few ways to do this practically:
- Get to know your students’ interests
- Use Project Based Learning (PBL)
- Explore how to and where to use content relevant to students’ lives
What is a Real World Connection Example
If you’re wondering what is a real world connection here’s an example of putting these tips into practice. Here’s what it can look like…
When I brought in a cactus for my fourth-grade students to explore, we discovered that students were most interested in being horticulturists.
Surprisingly they didn’t know this was a job that would require them to use their literacy skills. The succulents were the perfect context to explore plants, science, and math standards.
They practiced a whole array of skills including annotating plant parts, researching unusual plants, and writing care schedules. They also experimented with how light and water affected healthy growth. Recording, graphing, and presenting their observations was a great culminating event.
This approach supported unprompted learning without setting any homework! It was a great context for students to practice their literacy skills. If you want to know more about this project and how “JEFF” the cactus plays a role in my passion for PBL, you can read about it HERE.
Yippee! Students of varying abilities remembered the skills months later.
Intentionally planning a learning experience means this can be a strategy you use in all areas of the curriculum.
Project Based Learning units can be a great 21st-century approach for students to connect discipline content. In my real world connection example above, we made real world connections in maths and reinforced real world connections in science too.
Not convinced…? Here’s why it’s important to make real world connections in the classroom.
The Importance of Real World Connections in the Classroom
1) Student Engagement
a) Benefits
Short of jumping through hoops, it can be a challenge to keep kids actively learning with material that can seem boring and repetitive. Boosting student engagement through using real world connections not only keeps students on track but also exposes them to real-life problems. Behaviour management, attainment, and progression are all linked to keeping students moving forward with their learning. Self-motivation plays a role in this. Resumes for teachers has a great article about how to use student engagement strategies to connect with your students.
Within a class of often diverse and varying abilities and backgrounds, effective student engagement strategies can help free up valuable time for supporting those kids that need the extra help.
If you are using real world examples just as extension work and fast finishers, you might want to reconsider this approach.
b) Learning Style
In fact, using real world examples for whole-class instruction can be a great interactive and collaborative exercise. Moreover, students with additional learning needs respond really well to activities that are interesting and in a style that comes more naturally to them.
Here are Some formats you can try:
- hands-on activities – making models
- audiovisual formats – podcasts or social media videos
- Presentations and powerpoints
All of these formats are commonly used in the real world. If students can see the PURPOSE of an activity they are more likely to be focused and engaged.
An Example of Making Real World Connections
We used empty yogurt cartons from the school canteen as a practical approach to doing a project on recycling and reducing waste. Supporting the environment by creating a garden using just recycled material and waste was just what was needed to support my learners. They were struggling to see the link between maths and science and in particular measurement.
Firstly we collected empty yogurt cartons, washed and laid them out to dry. You can also use egg shells, toilet rolls and cut out plastic bottles. We then planted seeds in them for a mother’s day gift. The plastic bottles were used to create the school garden. we hung them as hanging as mini hanging baskets and placed them as window boxes.
To tie this in with our measurement topic pupil’s estimated the dimensions of the containers, the length of the window sills and how many containers would be needed to fill all the sills. Outside they mapped out the area to create the recycling garden and created scaled map of what plants would be grown and where they would be located.
Giving a choice of activities for students who don’t have a strong grasp of certain content meant that learning progression can happen for ALL students. They worked in groups to solve problems and create solutions. It’s so rewarding to see simple changes making such a big difference in engagement and understanding.
2) Relevancy
Adding relevant content works really well with motivating students. When it’s close to home and on students’ radar, they are likely to have a viewpoint and interest in the outcome. You might want to consider finding out what is going on in your students’ lives and the local community to make learning relevant for them.
Devious Licks Social Media Trend
Stealing school property has become such a talking point at the moment both for teachers and schools affected AND students. What seems on the face of it harmless fun has escalated in some cases to become criminal. Tackling this head-on might need some creativity but it’s certainly a topic that can be addressed appropriately in classroom lessons.
Taking a proactive role in educating your students on the danger, immorality, and practicalities of the “devious licks” trend, while teaching maths standards at the same time is a creative way to add real world connection and pique their interest. Introducing kids to statistics and crime rates can be a great relevant context to teach standards across the upper elementary curriculum and address the mathematical and social aspects of the devious licks trend.
Making real world connection with what is relevant to kids’ interests and environment is a sure way to put learning into context. Try it out! Catching students unaware by removing their chairs could be a parallel example of the issues surrounding this sensationalisation in social media. It would prompt discussion and empathy and ‘earning’ them back would let them experience the cost of replacing essential items for THEM! This scenario would be a great motivator to learn relevant subject content.
3) Student Motivation
I’m all for developing intrinsic motivation to learn. External motivators work to a certain extent but are limited in what they can achieve in terms of motivating students. If you’ve not watched a foreign movie called “ The 3 Idiots” ~Then you should! It’s the moral of the movie that is the most interesting.
Educational Reform
This movie is based on the real-life story of Sonam Wangchuk who inspired the plot.
He was awarded the “International Terra Award” for his innovation. Today, Ladakh’s literacy rate has increased from 5% to 80% due to Sonam Wangchuk.In his school, the focus was more on practical knowledge than theoretical knowledge. The school built by Sonam Wangchuk is the only school where the school is open 24 hours a day.
www.indiansbiography.in
This movie highlights that learning is everywhere and that motivation for learning doesn’t come from acquiring certificates and grades, it’s the enjoyment of the journey that is the greatest motivator to learn more. By adding student voice and choice you can give ownership of learning to your students. This is a great motivator to push through when they find some skills challenging.
In my projects, I always aim to give a choice of how students can present or share what they have learned and this can be in their preferred learning format, auditory, visual, kinesthetic.
Here are a few of the choices you can try out in your classroom.
- Powerpoint presentation
- Comic strip
- Video
- Flipbook
- Podcast
- Diagram
By using real world examples in the classroom we can help build this motivation to learn as your students enjoy the learning journey. If you are a little apprehensive about trying to use full project based learning then this is a great place to start incorporating elements of it. Incorporating real-world examples can be a great precursor to introducing project based learning in your upper elementary classroom. You can find out more about this in my Free walkthrough of creating a project based learning unit for upper elementary teachers HERE
4) Research skills
Teaching research skills has been a life changer in my classroom and it can be in yours too! Using real world connection examples, naturally sets up the environment for practicing authentic research skills. As students explore different sources they acquire research skills that are transferable to other areas of their life, especially in the world of work. The bonus is YOU get to impart less of the reading content while students work independently.
When starting any project based learning unit, the first thing I do is teach my students how to find accurate and relevant information. That’s why I created a lesson surrounding the Titanic where I teach them about fake news. They love this! and it opens up avenues for them to make their own real world connections to the skills they are learning. It’s a must for transitioning to a more student-led learning environment. The skill is so important in helping students navigate the online space safely and collate relevant information.
5) Retention
Hands up if you want to stop repeating yourself and free up a bit more time around test prep time! Incorporating real world connection in the classroom is hands down the best way to ensure what goes in doesn’t leave within a minute. Forgetting skills is the number one challenge we face every time test prep time comes around after holidays or after the long summer break.
Research shows that when students actively engage in learning (whether it’s hands-on, in a group setting, or individually) by exploring content that matters to them, they are more likely to remember the experience and the content.
Have you experienced this?
Long after a project is finished where student voice and choice were included, students are still talking about it with the next year’s group and anyone else that cares to listen!
If that’s you, you’ve tapped into the magic formula!
If you have a signature project that you always do with your year group, and it’s been a hit, you are sure to have heard the excitement that is shared by the next class you get.
So go ahead and create some memorable learning experiences that you can use and reuse again and again! For me, it was the Titanic and any class coming up to fourth grade knew that they would get to learn in a fun way!
6) Fun!
Sometimes all that is required to get kids excited about learning is changing up the format to be fun and engaging. That’s when the importance of using real word connection in the classroom is actualised. Making learning fun doesn’t need to be difficult. It can be easy to get bogged down in trying to cover all the content in a timely manner. Simply using easy strategies like telling stories to make connections is all you need to do to grab kids’ attention.
Throughout history, knowledge has been passed down through generations in the form of stories. True stories hold the most interest as it helps to create that connection between what is possible.
Re-light motivation for teaching
Changing things up can help if you are a bit bored with teaching. I’ve found a change of activities helps me feel more energised and ready to tackle the week.
Kids want to try things out! The adult world is a mystery that piques the curiosity of young minds. Seeing them enjoy themselves can help you feel motivated too! Try giving your students an insight into what goes on outside the classroom. It makes learning all the more fun.
Learning for a purpose
Literacy is no longer just learning vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension. It’s more than learning skills, it’s about applying them. A task with a specific purpose will always be more fun for kids. If they see that their work is going to be viewed on a “real” platform, by a real person or an organisation, it gives them a small taste of the adult world.
If you remember looking up to your older siblings and wanting to do activities like them. Well, it’s a bit like that, challenging work can be fun for kids! Doing what the adults do is even more fun for them. Seeing your students thrive and have fun is usre to re-ignight
So that’s the main reason for the importance of real world connections in the classroom. I’ve shared some of the benefits I’ve experienced by incorporating them regularly in my upper elementary classroom. However, the benefits are not just anecdotal. Research backs this approach to teaching. Below are a couple of strategies that I’ve used that you will find easy to implement in your classroom too.
Research Backed Real World Connections in Education
There are a number of research based strategies you can use to make real world connections in your upper elementary classroom.
1) Sharing YOUR Life Experiences
You can make real world connections in education by sharing your experiences with your students. It builds relationships, and help students see how what they are being taught is applied outside the classroom.
In Real World and the Classroom-Second Career Teachers (Diane Chambers), she highlights the positive impact teacher experiences can bring to authentic learning in the classroom.
In fact, as a second career teacher, planning my daughter’s wedding gave context to the properties of 2D shapes for my fourth-grade class. They absolutely loved creating prayer mats inspired by Islamic art. So if you find that your interests coincide with your students, tell them more about it!
You can also use day to day events with your students. A snapshot of your local grocery store can be used highlight opening times when teaching lapsed time problems or to connect prices when teaching money and budgeting.
2) Using Authentic Materials
Using authentic materials is one of my best ways to incorporate real world connections in the classroom. Authentic learning materials I use are text, objects, pictures, and audio that is not specifically created for the classroom. It’s important to rather use media that is age-appropriate for children, but is available and created for genuine communication.
You can also read more about this strategy for ESL or EFL context In Authentic Task-Based Materials: Bringing the Real World Into the Classroom, a research paper by Gail K. Oura. She highlights authentic ideas which I found can be used in all classrooms and disciplines.
For instance, some of the ways I’ve made real world connections in the classroom are using :
- newspaper articles rather than text created specifically for children, for teaching comprehension skills.
- stock exchange or property price numbers to conceptualize learning about large numbers
- Listening to podcasts about gardening to connect with science strands
- Utilising props such as restaurant menus, cookbooks, to practice writing and maths standards
- picture books to teach captioning, create comic strips and practice descriptive writing
- wedding invitations to connect with literacy and social studies standards.
With a little bit of creativity, you can easily use the materials in your school, from friends, and at home to create a collection of authentic materials to support students to make connections with the world around them.
3) Incorporating Digital Literacy and Gamification
Supporting digital citizenship has become a mainstay of a 21st-century curriculum. It can also be a tool to find exciting ways to incorporate real world connections in the classroom.
It can be a source of highlighting problems associated with internet use as well as the benefits. As students develop better internet usage skills and use it to present their work in innovative formats through hands-on experience of the modes of communication that will be useful in the world of work.
When you expose kids to critical information literacy at a young age, you give a realistic experience of using digital material. By Incorporating social media platforms, pop culture, and project management tools, research shows that the gap between standard and digital literacy is narrowed.
Incorporating both mediums became a necessity during the pandemic as students and teachers adapted to learning online, the need to teach how to effectively use this approach in the current environment meant skills that were irrelevant or not a priority were brought to the forefront. Being proactive in making real world connection using digital literacy will help students be proficient in using these tools in the future.
If you’ve found that most of your students are proficient in using social media, the internet, and communication software for interacting with their peers but not so great when it comes to using them for learning, you are not alone!
Authentic Application
When it comes to using these tools for learning there is a disconnect and there is a need to teach the use of saying PowerPoint, social media platforms, and spreadsheets explicitly. It’s surprising how many students do not know how to use the internet to carry out accurate research. Create a report or share information on a blog. Students need to be taught how to use the internet effectively as this is the form of real world examples that will give them the skills for learning further.
As we navigate the current educational environment, making real world connection in the classroom can play a key role for students to understand why they need to learn something. I hope you try and incorporate some of these ideas and make teaching easier. If you want to learn more about how this strategy can be expanded to exploring Project Based Learning , then be sure to grab my free Project Based Learning guide and planner. You will get a full PBL walkthrough from start to finish. Remember there is no perfect way to adopt PBL, just pick and choose from where you are!
Ideas for How to Make Real World Connection in the Classroom
Making real world connection is not that difficult and I use a few strategies to help kids see the benefit of what they are learning. Here are a few of my favourite approaches.
Incorporate Teacher’s Interests
Observation and wonder are natural aspects of being a kid however as an adult it can be easy to put our own wonderings to the side. Despite what you may hear, teachers are not supposed to know EVERYTHING! When a child asks a question you don’t know the answer to, be part of the exploration. Try saying “ let’s find out” Modeling curiosity and wonder is the best way to incorporate the active learning associated with making real world connections.
Using Objects and Pictures
Using objects and pictures in your instruction can make a unit or concept come to life! This is the natural way kids learn. It’s the perfect hands-on way to involve all abilities of students. After all, learning doesn’t get more REAL than using all the senses! Real world connection can be: contacting local museums to having experts come in to demonstrate the use of various objects, down to using holiday tickets and souvenirs to explore key math skills. It can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. Hands-on learning is accessible to all students.
Analysing World events
Often kids pick up and hear adults talking about major world events which inspire them to take a stance or share their opinions. This can be a perfect catalyst for deeper learning. Recent climate change events like COP 26 and Dubai EXPO give teachers an opportunity to make connections with statistics, science, and social and moral dilemmas associated with these global environmental issues. Talking about it in the classroom can help develop communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills on issues that matter to students.
Connecting with Community News
Using news from your community can be a catalyst for change as well as making connections with learning in the classroom. When the headteacher in our school moved home to a busier area, she presented a problem-solving opportunity for kids in third grade. To help with her insomnia, students were given the task to come up with solutions. It required them to use their shape and measurement skills to design eye masks, earmuffs, and a prototype for a sleep app.
In Practice
Look for simple real life connections. There are opportunities to illustrate the skills kids need to learn everywhere in our day-to-day life. I like to keep the Notebook app on my phone. When I notice a problem-solving opportunity in my own life, I think about what academic skill this connects to for my students, jot it down and I’m good to go when I’m teaching that topic. It can be as simple as telling a story about a situation to illustrate the teaching objective. Or it can be something that is a little more extensive. You can start from where you are at!
As we navigate the current educational environment, making real world connection in the classroom can play a key role for students to understand why they need to learn something. I hope you try and incorporate some of these ideas and make teaching fun!. If you want to learn more about how this strategy can be expanded to exploring Project Based Learning, then be sure to grab my free Project Based Learning guide and planner. You will get a full PBL walkthrough from start to finish. Remember there is no perfect way to adopt PBL, just pick and choose from where you are!
My Best Real World Connections Examples
Real World Connections in Math
Maths anxiety is a real thing. Often it stems from gaps in knowledge and then embarrassment to show that they don’t understand. The progressive nature of maths concepts means that this can continue far into the upper elementary years. A lack of confidence in the basic maths facts and fluency in them can be overcome with minimal embarrassment by incorporating real world projects that allow for differentiation in basic maths skills.
Natural Differentiation
By working collaboratively on a project, natural differentiation and peer support can take place if you group students with students fluent in maths skills. Learning from peers, and working on complex real world problems can help struggling students show what they do know. By assigning tasks that help them practice their basic maths skills they can build confidence and also learn more complex applications from their peers as they are invested in the real world problem.
A few of my absolute best ways to make real world connections in maths are below. I find starting the school year off with place value real world connections sets up my class to work in a student-led learning environment.
In my fourth grade class, I’ve made real world connections in maths by looking at how large numbers are used in jobs and current events. Here are a few ideas to make connections with maths standards.
Place value- exploring data around Olympic sports events – How can we use data to create a more equitable sporting event?
Space value mission – travel and distance – Is space travel possible for the public with the technology we have?
Real World Connections in Science
Most Project based learning projects start from exploring issues connected with science and social studies strands. This is a great starting point to make real world connections. Science supports hands-on learning and this is a perfect backdrop for experimentation and exploration. For example, cooking lends itself well to putting fractions and measurements into context. Tackling a global push to cut down on meat consumption could be the context to create a recipe book that supports sustainability principles.
Real World Connections in Social Studies
The social studies curriculum has a wealth of content that lends itself well to incorporating real world connection. In fact most PBL units are born from a standard from this discipline. Exploring events in the past or the current environment means you can incorporate artifacts, primary and secondary sources, and let students voice their opinion about current and past events.
Some ways to make real world connections in social studies is to:
- Use museum artifacts for object-based learning
- Use museum pictures to explore different mediums to draw meaning
- Personal possessions can help make connections with social studies strands
- Field trips also add an experiential aspect to learning
Geocaching is one of my favourite activities to help conceptualise mapping skills and learn about local landmarks, the environment, and the community. Another great connection that’s a hit is the social studies connection with the Titanic. Researching the background of the Titanic and combining it with fake news identification is a great way to introduce independent research skills. You can grab this lesson HERE
Ideas to Incorporate Real World Connections Everyday
Incorporating real world connections into your classroom routines is a great precursor for introducing project based learning.
I like to use these bell ringers to save time and give students word problem practice in an authentic context. They help to consolidate skills being taught that month in maths, social studies, SEL reading, and writing. You can use them for extension work. or for homework. To use them for extension activities just print out a few of each worksheet pop them in an envelope or poly pocket and attach them to your fast finisher board. They are such timesavers! You can differentiate the same activity by making it more challenging by letting students solve the best way to complete the task.
Here are a few other ideas to try out too
- Shopping lists – adding and subtracting
- Email – formal communication
- Notes to friends – birthday messages – writing
- Sales calculations – saving money
- Nutrient content – percentages
I hope incorporating more real world connection in your classroom adds more fun, relevancy, and excitement to learning in your classroom. Leave me a comment if you have tried any of these ideas, I love to see how other educators are making this work in their classrooms.
You might be interested in these resources:
Make real world connections with the events of the Titanic while teaching internet research skills
Save time by using these 4th grade morning work monthly packets to make real world connections an every day practice.
